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Multiple-Meaning Words

A multiple-meaning word is spelled and said the same way but means different things: a bat flies at night, and you hit a ball with a bat. Context is the only clue, which is why these words are such good reading practice.

Here are 116 multiple-meaning words from past ClueBy puzzles, each with a real example sentence for every meaning. Use them as a reference, or make a printable worksheet below.

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Students read each sentence and write the missing word. Every word appears in several sentences, each time with a different meaning.

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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. Where did you ________________ them?
  2. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  3. How do you ________________ your surname?
  4. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  5. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  6. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  7. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  8. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  9. False peace will not ________________.
  10. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  11. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  12. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  13. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  14. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  15. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  16. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  17. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  18. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  19. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  20. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  21. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  22. The water is too ________________.
  23. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  24. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com

Answer key

  1. mug — to rob
  2. cold — an illness
  3. spell — letters
  4. last — finally
  5. rule — a law
  6. staff — employees
  7. staff — a stick
  8. cold — the Cold War
  9. last — to go on
  10. rule — government
  11. spring — the season
  12. straw — a straw man
  13. spring — of water
  14. rule — to rule out
  15. spell — magic
  16. mug — a cup
  17. straw — dry grass
  18. straw — to clutch at straws
  19. mug — a face
  20. last — final
  21. spring — a coil
  22. cold — not warm
  23. spell — a short time
  24. staff — employees

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

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Frequently asked questions

What are multiple-meaning words?

Words with the same spelling and pronunciation but more than one meaning, like bark (of a dog or of a tree) or bank (for money or of a river). You can only tell which meaning is meant from the rest of the sentence.

Are multiple-meaning words the same as homonyms?

Mostly, yes. Teachers often use "multiple-meaning words" and "homonyms" for the same idea. Homophones are different: they sound alike but are spelled differently, like flour and flower.

Are the worksheets free?

Yes. Make and print as many as you like for home or classroom use. Each sheet has its own link, so you can print the same one again.

Where do the words come from?

From past ClueBy puzzles, a daily game where you sort twelve sentences by their missing word. A new puzzle every day adds four more words to this list.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com